Do you think dogs/pets feel the emotion "jealousy"?

[Cetawin]

Of course they do...they can be jealous, protective, vindictive you name it.

 

[thebritt]

Quote:
I truly believe I draw the line at "vindictiveness". I hear people say that their dog/cat/pet did something (tear up a couch/car/shoe") to get back at them for various reasons, eg. not taking the dog for a walk, leaving the cat for the weekend, etc., but I think it's more out of boredom and not enough exercise or attention.
Once again, I think Jamie has hit the nail on the head. I brought up the idea of "jealousy" because that's what my family is calling Woo's seemingly withdrawn behavior. Truth is, Woo acts "all emo" whenever I don't take him to work or out with me, and has done this long before we adopted Solomon. Seems like the fam is trying to make me feel guilty rather than attempting to play with/stimulate Woo when I'm not there. They let him just go lie down in my room and leave him there.
Thanks for chiming in, Jamie! I truly value your professional opinion!

I guess the whole thing boils down to the limitations of human language trying to interpret non-human behavior....

 

[arabianequine]

I do think that dogs get jealous, sad, and hurt feelings especially when scolded......I do agree that with the vindictiveness that it is probably lack of exercise and/or attention. My saint however did use to get mad at me if I don't let her out back with me she use to pee on the floor by the time I came back in to just prove a point....but she had just been in front in the fenced section so I don't know why she would need to go again.

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
I agree and we put them into human terms.

 

[sourland]

I have never been one to anthropomorphize(Sp.) animals actions, but some actions? Black bart, I like the way you put it. We once had a miniature poodle foisted upon us by a "friend." When we would bring him home from the boarding kennel, he would enter the living room, urinate on the sofa(he was 100% housebroken), look at you with his lip curled up like touch me and I will bite you (he bit me and only me on several occasions.) The next day he would strew garbage around the kitchen and defecate on it. After that he would be fine until the next boarding session. He was severely inbred and had definite temperment problems. Can someone explain these actions? Spiteful, vindictive?

 

[KellyHM]

I would say a definite yes. It may not be the exact same type of jealous humans feel, but they definitely get jealous. We have 1 dog that we call "jealous dog" all the time...he can be perfectly happy laying on the couch or chewing on a bone and if you pet any of the other animals he immediately comes over and nudges his head under your hand.

 

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
I've always felt this way - just because we don't understand them, somehow they're dumb' and don't have feelings.....I understand they live in the moment, and they have limited reasoning abilities, but I do think they have emotions, that they 'think', in a way, and that they try to communicate with us. We're the dummies that don't get them!

 

[babyblue]

my husbands nutty cat got weird when dh and I started dating. pissy and mean when we got married and went overboard nuts when we had a baby. unsafe nasty bite and hurt me or the baby for walking into the same room as my spouse. she had to go for the babys safety because we couldnt ever get her to calm down.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I agree and we put them into human terms.

Now, I'm not very mushy about animals at all and am very practical when it comes to reading their behaviors as they relate to humans and our emotions.

Barring a better term with which to label these behaviors, I don't see anything wrong in saying that they display "jealousy" or " sadness". As we have no way of knowing what that behavior would be labelled in dog language, I would just call it by the word that would best describe that particular behavior, so as to better communicate it to other humans.

I have, on two separate occasions and two separate species, witnessed behavior that one could only label as "vindictive" or "malicious". There was simply no other explanation for these behaviors....so one has to use the word most likely to describe it.

 

[Mugen]

Bear, my Caucasian Mastiff Sheepdog, gets embarrassed whenever I stair at him while he's eating. He gets conscious. He'll continue eating, but he will not eat as fast as he likes or seems not to enjoy his raw meat much. He's a cutie and very sweet. He's so big and knows it. He just pushes everybody out of the way. My Komondors had to bow down to him when he was only 6 months. That's my protector giant. He's a descendant from this guy:



http://forum.vbocaucasian.com/bagrat-104.html